With indisputable data, the Shabecoffs reveal that the children of baby boomers—the first to be raised in a truly “toxified” world—have higher rates of birth defects, asthma, cancer, autism and a frightening range of other neurological illnesses from ADHD to mental retardation, and other serious chronic illnesses, than previous generations. . They reveal that one out of two pregnancies fails to come to term or results in a less than healthy child, that premature births and infertility are on the rise as this generation matures, while the ratio of male babies dwindles. These children are victims of a crime; the perpetrators are the companies who knowingly manufacture and use poisonous products.Covering up the evidence- Why does the toxic assault on our children continue? because the evidence is routinely obscured by controversy deliberately generated by the companies that profit, abetted by government collusion, scientists-for-hire, lobbyists, lawyers and cynical public relations.

Poisons in the environment- From fetus to adulthood, in our homes, yards, schools, cars and buses, and playgrounds. the assault is everywhere: air pollution, water pollution, pesticides, mercury and lead, industrial solvents, food additives, artificial growth hormones, arsenic, bisphenol A and phthalates in bottles and teething rings and other plastic products, radioactive pollutants in the water, and even rocket fuel in lettuce.

Solutions- Poisoned Profits is in the end a book about hope and optimism. We made these poisons, we can take them out of our children’s lives and make profits from safe products. Find here the solutions to reduce your child’s risk and to change the system.

The environmental assault- We and our children are exposed to toxins invisibly, stealthily, without our knowledge. The U.S. now makes or imports 27 trillion pounds of chemicals per year (not even counting pesticides, drugs, food additives or polymers).

Causing harm- Poisoned for Profit, based on more than five years of investigative research and reporting, reveals the cumulative scientific evidence connecting the massive increase in environmental poisons to the epidemic of disability, disease, and dysfunction among our nation´s children.

The manufacturers and their defense team- The authors conclude that the poisoning of the environment is as grave a threat to the future as any problem confronting our nation.

Yet even as individual parents and pediatricians struggle to fight illness, one child at a time, the public remains in the dark about the enormity of this crisis. Why? because corporations control the system, molding laws to their liking. The book shines a light on the motives and means of corporate-paid lawyers, “product defense” companies, fake grassroots groups, research centers and scientists, including one paid $600 an hour to watch a movie.

The Victims- Poisoned for Profit, cast as a crime story, relates what happens to the victims—the families and communities polluted by different toxic substances—by chemicals, heavy metals, industrial manufacturing, and nuclear waste. Here are the stories of Dickson, Tennessee, where an extraordinary number of babies were born with cleft lips and palates after landfill chemicals seeped into the water; and Port Neches, Texas, where so many graduates of a high school near a petrochemical plant contracted cancer that it was nicknamed “Leukemia High”; and a small brother and sister in Indiana who, exposed to pesticides, slipped into severe retardation.

Genes + the environment – In layman´s language, the book explains how genes and the environment act upon each other, how mental and behavioral illnesses can be environmentally-triggered, affecting both the body and mind. And it explains the ways in which the fetus and young child are much more vulnerable than adults.

Our nation picks up the tab for these illnesses—Poisoned for Profit gives the dollar figures for reduced productivity on one hand, the staggering cost of care for sick children on the other.

Solutions- Instead of fighting against disability and disease with cures, a never–ending struggle, the authors affirm that we now have the knowledge to prevent harm and they describe the solutions. Poisoned for Profit demonstrates how people are fighting back, whether through grassroots parents´ groups, the rise of “ecotheology” or the new “green chemistry” that replaces bad elements with harmless ones.

The Shabecoffs also include a guide for parents on how to reduce toxic risks to their children in their everyday lives.

Poisoned for Profit was researched and written with support from the Ford, V. Kann Rasmussen, Heinz Family and Rockefeller foundations, under the sponsorship of Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility. Physicians for Social Responsibility and the Institute for Children´s Environmental Health sponsored the book’s public policy uses. Some of the nation´s leading environmental health scientists served as advisors to the book.

Philip Shabecoff was the chief environmental correspondent for The New York Times for fourteen of the thirty-two years he worked there as a reporter. After leaving the Times, he founded and published Greenwire, an online daily digest of environmental news. He has appeared on Meet the Press, Face the Nation, Washington Week in Review, CNN News, C-Span, National Public Radio, and the BBC. For his environmental writing, Shabecoff was selected as one of the “Global 500” by the United Nations’ Environmental Program. He received the James Madison Award from the American Library Association for leadership in expanding the public’s right to know. His previous books include A Fierce Green Fire: A History of the American Environmental Movement.

Alice Shabecoff is a freelance journalist focusing on family and consumer topics. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Christian Science Monitor, and the International Herald Tribune, among other publications. She was executive director of the National Consumers League, the country’s oldest consumer organization, and executive director of the national nonprofit Community Information Exchange. Her previous books include A Guide to Careers in Community Development.